Cooling system

ABSTRACT

A system for cooling a server includes a chassis including a first and a second chassis inlet, a first and a second chassis outlet, a cooling fluid outlet and a cooling fluid inlet, and a heat exchanger disposed in the chassis. The second chassis inlet and outlet are connected to the second loading pipe. The cooling fluid inlet is connected to a cooling fluid. The cooling fluid outlet discharges the cooling fluid. The heat exchanger includes a first and a second circulating pipe in thermal contact with each other and a cooling pipe. The first circulating pipe is connected to the first chassis outlet and the first chassis inlet respectively. The second circulating pipe is connected to the second chassis outlet and inlet. The cooling pipe is connected to the cooling fluid outlet and the cooling fluid inlet. The chassis and the heat exchanger form the modular cooling system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a)on Patent Application No(s). 201210344031.X filed in China on Sep. 17,2012, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The disclosure relates to a cooling system, and more particularly to amodular cooling system.

2. Related Art

With time goes by, accesses of information are increased greatly. Notonly workloads of servers which access the information are increasedgreatly, the number of the servers, which process the information, isincreased, too. In other words, under the circumstances that theworkloads of the servers are increased, the computations of electronicdevices in each server are increased, too. In general, an airconditioning system, including a compressor, is disposed in a datacenter containing the multiple servers, which makes the temperature ofthe data center including the servers decrease. However, when only a fewservers are disposed in the one data center, the performing efficiencyof the air conditioning system is wasted. Moreover, when the data centeralready has full of servers and another small amount of servers needs tobe further disposed in the data center, another new data center and anair conditioning system thereof is further needed, thereby increasingthe cost of expanding cost. Moreover, when only another few servers needto be further disposed in another new data, the performing efficiency ofthe air conditioning system is wasted again. That is to say, themanufacturer may not adjust the number of the servers with goodflexibility, which troubles adjusting the scale of the serverarchitecture. Therefore, how to adjust the air conditioning system andthe numbers of the server is the problem manufacturers dedicated tosolve.

SUMMARY

The disclosure provides a cooling system for connecting to and cooling aserver. The server comprises a first loading pipe for cooling a gasentering the server and a second loading pipe for being in thermalcontact with an electronic device of the server. The cooling systemcomprises a chassis and a heat exchanger. The chassis includes a firstchassis outlet, a first chassis inlet, a second chassis outlet, a secondchassis inlet, a cooling fluid outlet and a cooling fluid inlet. Thefirst chassis outlet and the first chassis inlet are both used for beingconnected to the first loading pipe. The second chassis outlet and thesecond chassis inlet both are used for being connected to the secondloading pipe. The cooling fluid inlet is used for being connected to asource of a cooling fluid. The cooling fluid outlet is used fordischarging the cooling fluid. The heat exchanger is disposed in thechassis. The heat exchanger includes a first circulating pipe, a secondcirculating pipe and a cooling pipe. The first circulating pipe and thesecond circulating pipe are in thermal contact with each other. Two endsof the first circulating pipe are connected to the first chassis outletand the first chassis inlet, respectively. The two ends of the secondcirculating pipe are connected to the second chassis outlet and thesecond chassis inlet, respectively. Two ends of the cooling pipe areconnected to the cooling fluid outlet and the cooling fluid inlet. Afirst fluid is provided to circulate in the first circulating pipe. Asecond fluid is provided to circulate in the second circulating pipe.The cooling fluid is provided to circulate the cooling pipe. Therefore,the chassis and the heat exchanger form the modular cooling systemtogether.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will become more fully understood from the detaileddescription given herein below for illustration only, and thus are notlimitative of the disclosure, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a cooling system according to an embodiment ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of a cooling system according to anotherembodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 2B is another angle of perspective view of the cooling system inFIG. 2A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent,however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devicesare schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.

Referring to FIG. 1, which is a diagram of a cooling system according toan embodiment of the disclosure. A cooling system 10 in this disclosuremay be connected to a server 20. The server 20 comprises a first loadingpipe 210 and a second loading pipe 220. The first loading pipe 210 isused for cooling a gas which enters the server 20. The second loadingpipe 220 is used for being in thermal contact with an electronic device230 in the server 20 to cool the electronic device 230. The coolingsystem 10 comprises a chassis 110 and a heat exchanger 120. The chassis110 includes a first chassis outlet 111, a first chassis inlet 112, asecond chassis outlet 113, a second chassis inlet 114, a cooling fluidoutlet 115 and a cooling fluid inlet 116. The first chassis outlet 111and the first chassis inlet 112 are both used for being connected to thefirst loading pipe 210. The second chassis outlet 113 and the secondchassis inlet 114 are used for being connected to the second loadingpipe 220. The cooling fluid inlet 116 is used for being connecting to asource of a cooling fluid (not shown). The cooling fluid outlet 115 isused for discharging the cooling fluid. The heat exchanger 120 isdisposed in the chassis 110. The heat exchanger 120 includes a firstcirculating pipe 121, a second circulating pipe 122 and a cooling pipe123. The first circulating pipe 121 and the second circulating pipe 122are in thermal contact with each other. One end of the first circulatingpipe 121 is connected to the first chassis outlet 111 and other end ofthe first circulating pipe 121 is connected to the first chassis inlet112. One end of the second circulating pipe 122 is connected to thesecond chassis outlet 113 and other end of the second circulating pipe122 is connected to the second chassis inlet 114. One end of the coolingpipe 123 is connected to the cooling fluid outlet 115 and the other endof the cooling pipe 123 is connected to the cooling fluid inlet 116. Afirst fluid is provided to circulate in the first circulating pipe 121.A second fluid is provided to circulate in the second circulating pipe122. The cooling fluid is provided to circulate in the cooling pipe 123.

In this embodiment, the cooling system 10 further comprises a firstfluid tank 131, a first fluid pump 141 and a first surge tank 151. Thefirst fluid tank 131 is disposed between the first circulating pipe 121and the first chassis outlet 111. The first fluid pump 141 is disposedbetween the first fluid tank 131 and the first chassis outlet 111. Thefirst surge tank 151 is connected to the first fluid tank 131.

The cooling system 10 further comprises a second fluid tank 132, asecond fluid pump 142 and a second surge tank 152. The second fluid tank132 is disposed between the second circulating pipe 122 and the secondchassis outlet 113. The second fluid pump 142 is disposed between thesecond fluid tank 132 and the second chassis outlet 113. The secondsurge tank 152 is connected to the second fluid tank 132.

The cooling system 10 further comprises a first filter device 161, asecond filter device 162 and a third filter device 163. The first filterdevice 161 is disposed between the first circulating pipe 121 and thefirst chassis inlet 112. The second filter device 162 is disposedbetween the second circulating pipe 122 and the second chassis inlet114. The third filter device 163 is disposed between the cooling pipe123 and the cooling fluid inlet 116.

By the above-mentioned arrangement, the chassis 110, the heat exchanger120, the first fluid tank 131, the second fluid tank 132, the firstfluid pump 141, the second fluid pump 142, the first surge tank 151, thesecond surge tank 152, the first filter device 161, the second filterdevice 162 and the third filter device 163 form the modular coolingsystem 10 together.

In this embodiment, the heat exchanger 120 may be a plate type heatexchanger, but not limited to the disclosure. In other embodiments, theheat exchanger 120 may be other types of heat exchanger. The first fluidand the second fluid are different substances from each other, and thefirst fluid and the cooling fluid are the same substance. The firstfluid and the cooling fluid may be water in liquid phase and the secondfluid may be refrigerant. In some embodiments, the temperature of therefrigerant at which the refrigerant is changed from liquid phase tovapor phase may be below the operating temperature of the electronicdevice 230.

When the cooling system 10 is assembled with the server 20, the coolingsystem 10 may cool the server 20. In this embodiment, the first fluidpump 141 may pump out the first fluid, stored in the first fluid tank131, via the first chassis outlet 111. The first loading pipe 210 may bedisposed at an inlet of the server 20. When a fan 240 impels a gas whichis outside the server 20, the first fluid in the first loading pipe 210may absorb the heat of the gas in order to cool the gas. Therefore, thecooled gas may enter the server 20, which enables the cooling system 10to cool the server 20. When the fluid, whose temperature is risenbecause of absorbing the heat, leaves the first loading pipe 210 of theserver 20, the fluid flows into the chassis 110 via the first chassisinlet 112. The first fluid enters the first circulating pipe 121 afterbeing filtered by the first filter device 161 such that impurities ofthe first fluid may not enter the first circulating pipe 121, so as toprevent the first circulating pipe 121 from damage. The first fluid inthe first circulating pipe 121 may perform heat transfer with thecooling fluid of the cooling pipe 123 such that the heat of the firstfluid is transferred to the cooling fluid and the temperature of thefirst fluid is decreased. The cooled first fluid may flow to the firstfluid tank 131 anew to be stored. In other embodiments, since thecircuit which the first fluid flows through is not an open-loop circuit,there are a small amount of impurities in the first fluid such that thedisposing of the first filter device 161 may be avoided. When thepressure of first fluid tank 131 is too high or the amount of the firstfluid is too much, a part of the first fluid may flow into the firstsurge tank 151 for stabilizing. In other embodiments, the pressure ofthe first fluid is almost fixed, so the disposing of the first surgetank 151 is avoided.

The second fluid pump 142 may pump the second fluid stored in the secondfluid tank 132 out of the chassis 110 and to the second loading pipe 220of the server 20. The second loading pipe 220 is disposed to and inthermal contact with the electronic device 230 of the server 20. Thesecond fluid in the second loading pipe 220 may absorb heat generated bythe electronic device 230 in order to cool the electronic device 230,which enables the cooling system 10 to cool the server 20. At thismoment, since the second fluid absorbs the heat to be risen itstemperature. The second fluid is easy to absorb the evaporation heat tobe vaporized into vapor phase partially. Moreover, when the temperatureof the second fluid is risen to the liquid-vapor-phase changingtemperature (the boiling point), the second fluid may absorb thesteaming heat to be steamed into gas phase partially. When the heatedsecond fluid whose temperature rises leaves the second loading pipe 220of the server 20, the second fluid may flow into the chassis 110 via thesecond chassis inlet 114. The second fluid enters the second circulatingpipe 122 after being filtered by the second filter device 162,impurities of the second fluid may not enter the second circulating pipe122, thereby preventing the second circulating pipe 122 from damage. Thesecond fluid in the second circulating pipe 122 may perform heattransfer with the cooling fluid in the cooling pipe 123, such that theheat is transferred to the cooling fluid and the temperature of thesecond fluid is decreased. The cooled second fluid may flow to thesecond fluid tank 132 to be stored anew. In other embodiments, since thesecond fluid is not an open-loop circuit, the impurities of the secondfluid is little, such that the disposing of the second filter device 162is avoided. When the pressure of the second fluid tank 132 is too highor the amount of the second fluid is too much, a part of the secondfluid may flow into the second surge tank 152 for stabilizing.

The cooling fluid may flow from the source of the cooling fluid to thechassis 110 via the cooling fluid inlet 116. After being filtered by thethird filter device 163, the cooling fluid flows into the cooling pipe123 of the heat exchanger 120, impurities of the cooling fluid may notenter the cooling pipe 123 for preventing the cooling pipe 123 fromdamage. The cooling fluid of the cooling pipe 123 absorbs the heat ofthe first fluid in the first circulating pipe 121 and the heat of thesecond fluid in the second circulating pipe 122. After absorbing theheat to make its temperature rise, the cooling fluid is discharged outof the chassis 110 via the cooling fluid outlet 115.

When the cooling system 10 is operated, the cooling system 10 and theserver 20 construct a servo architecture together. When the arrangementof the cooling system 10 and the server 20 is assembled, the coolingsystem 10 and the server 20 may be linked up by pipelines. When thearrangement of the server 20 and the cooling system 10 is adjusted ordisassembled, the pipelines between the server 20 and the cooling system10 may be disassembled. Thus, user may assemble the modular coolingsystem 10 and server 20 according to design or operating requirement aswell as take apart the modular cooling system 10 and server 20 accordingto design or operating requirement.

Please refer to FIGS. 2A and 2B. FIG. 2A is a perspective view of acooling system according to another embodiment of the disclosure. FIG.2B is another angle of perspective view of the cooling system in FIG.2A. In this embodiment, a cooling system 30 does not include the firstfilter device 161, the second filter device 163 and the first surge tank151 in the first embodiment.

A first fluid enters a heat exchanger 320 via a first chassis inlet 312.Heat is discharged by the first fluid in the heat exchanger 320 and thefirst fluid enters a first fluid tank 331. Three first fluid pumps 341pump out the first fluid to a first liquid collection tank 311 a, andthe first fluid is discharged from the first chassis outlet 311. Achassis 310 further comprises a first fluid injection port 371 and afirst fluid discharge port 372. The first fluid tank 331 is connected tothe first fluid injection port 371 and the first fluid discharge port372 simultaneously. User may supply the first fluid of the coolingsystem 30 via the first fluid injection port 371. When the amount of thefirst fluid is too much or the first fluid needs to be discharged, thefirst fluid may be discharged from the cooling system 30 via the firstfluid discharge port 372.

A second fluid may enter the heat exchanger 320 via a second chassisinlet 314. After heat is discharged by the second fluid in the heatexchanger 320, the second fluid further flows to a second fluid tank332. Next, three second fluid pumps 342 pump the second fluid out to asecond liquid collection tank 313 a, and the second fluid is dischargedfrom a second chassis outlet 313. When the pressure of the second fluidtank 332 is too high or the amount of the second fluid is too much, apart of the second fluid may enter a second surge tank 352 forstabilization. The chassis 310 further comprises a second fluidinjection port 373 and a second fluid discharge port 374. The secondfluid tank 332 is connected to the second fluid injection port 373 andthe second fluid discharge port 374 at the same time. User may supplythe second fluid of the cooling system 30 via the second fluid injectionport 373. When the amount of the second fluid in the cooling system 30is too much or the second fluid needs to be discharged, the second fluidmay be discharged from the cooling system 30 via the second fluiddischarge port 374.

A cooling fluid may enter a third filter device 363 via a cooling fluidinlet 316. The cooling fluid flows into the heat exchanger 320 afterbeing filtered. After the cooling fluid in the heat exchanger 320absorbs the heat from the first fluid and the second fluid to make itstemperature rise, the cooling fluid is discharged from the cooling fluidoutlet 315 of the chassis 310.

When the cooling system 30 is operated, similar to the embodiment inFIG. 1, the cooling system 30 may be assembled with the server 20 inFIG. 1 to construct a servo architecture. When the arrangement of theserver 20 and the cooling system 30 is assembled, the cooling system 30and the server 20 may be linked up by pipelines. Furthermore, the firstfluid may flow into the first fluid tank 331 via the first fluidinjection port 371, and the second fluid may flow into the second fluidtank 332 via the second fluid injection port 373. When the arrangementof the server 20 (shown in FIG. 1) and the cooling system 30 is adjustedor disassembled, the first fluid in the first fluid tank 331 may bedischarged via the first fluid discharge port 373 and the second fluidin the second fluid tank 332 may be discharged via the second fluiddischarge port 374 before the pipelines between the server 20 and thecooling system 30 are disassembled. Therefore, User may assemble themodular cooling system 30 and server 20 according to design or operatingrequirements as well as take apart the modular cooling system 30 andserver 20 according to design or operating requirements.

To sum up, in the cooling system according to the disclosure, thechassis and the heat exchanger form the modular cooling system together.When the servo architecture formed by the cooling system and the serveris constructed, the modular cooling system may be switched easily foradjusting the number of the cooling systems and the servers with goodflexibility. During disposing the added servers, only the coolingsystems are further disposed instead of manufacturing another datacenter, such that enough cooling ability may be achieved. Moreover, thecooling system and the server may also be transported separately forbeing arranged in different data center. When the servers needs to befurther disposed, only the cooling system and the server is moved from asmall data center to a large data center instead of manufacturinganother new data center and air conditioning system. Furthermore, thecooling system according to the disclosure may be in thermal contactwith the electronic device of the server via the second loading pipe.Compared to the conventional method for indirectly cooling ambienttemperature by an air conditioning system, the cooling method of thecooling system according to the disclosure is to take the heat fromelectronic device away directly. Also, the cooling system according tothe disclosure does not include and high-power-consuming compressor.Therefore, when the temperature of the electronic device is reduced tothe same level, the cooling system according to the invention may savemore power energy.

The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the inventionhas been presented only for the purposes of illustration and descriptionand is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to theprecise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possiblein light of the above teaching.

The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain theprinciples of the invention and their practical application so as toactivate others skilled in the art to utilize the invention and variousembodiments and with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art to which the present inventionpertains without departing from its spirit and scope. Accordingly, thescope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims ratherthan the foregoing description and the exemplary embodiments describedtherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cooling system for connecting to and cooling aserver, wherein the server comprises a first loading pipe for cooling agas entering the server and a second loading pipe for being in thermalcontact with an electronic device of the server, and the cooling systemcomprises: a chassis including a first chassis outlet, a first chassisinlet, a second chassis outlet, a second chassis inlet, a cooling fluidoutlet and a cooling fluid inlet, wherein the first chassis outlet andthe first chassis inlet both are used for being connected to the firstloading pipe, the second chassis outlet and the second chassis inletboth are used for being connected to the second loading pipe, thecooling fluid inlet is used for being connected to a source of a coolingfluid, and the cooling fluid outlet is used for discharging the coolingfluid; and a heat exchanger disposed in the chassis, the heat exchangerincluding a first circulating pipe, a second circulating pipe and acooling pipe, wherein the first circulating pipe and the secondcirculating pipe are in thermal contact with each other, two ends of thefirst circulating pipe are connected to the first chassis outlet and thefirst chassis inlet, respectively, the two ends of the secondcirculating pipe are connected to the second chassis outlet and thesecond chassis inlet, respectively, and two ends of the cooling pipe areconnected to the cooling fluid outlet and the cooling fluid inlet,respectively; wherein a first fluid is provided to circulate in thefirst circulating pipe, a second fluid is provided to circulate in thesecond circulating pipe, and the cooling fluid is provided to circulatethe cooling pipe such that the chassis and the heat exchanger form themodular cooling system together.
 2. The cooling system as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the cooling system further comprises a first fluid tankand a first fluid pump, the first fluid tank is disposed between thefirst circulating pipe and the first chassis outlet, and the first fluidpump is disposed between the first fluid tank and the first chassisoutlet.
 3. The cooling system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the coolingsystem further comprises a first surge tank connected to the first fluidtank.
 4. The cooling system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coolingsystem further comprises a second fluid tank and a second fluid pump,the second fluid tank is disposed between the second circulating pipeand the second chassis outlet, and the second fluid pump is disposedbetween the second fluid tank and the second chassis outlet.
 5. Thecooling system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the cooling system furthercomprises a second surge tank connected to the second fluid tank.
 6. Thecooling system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cooling system furthercomprises a first filter device, a second filter device and a thirdfilter device, the first filter device is disposed between the firstcirculating pipe and the first chassis inlet, the second filter deviceis disposed between the second circulating pipe and the second chassisinlet, and the third filter device is disposed between the cooling pipeand the cooling fluid inlet.
 7. The cooling system as claimed in claim1, wherein the heat exchanger is a plate type heat exchanger.
 8. Thecooling system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first fluid and thesecond fluid are different substances from each other, and the firstfluid and the cooling fluid are the same substance.
 9. The coolingsystem as claimed in claim 1, wherein the chassis further comprises afirst fluid injection port and a first fluid discharge port which areboth connected to the first fluid tank, the first fluid enters the firstfluid tank via the first fluid injection port, and is discharged fromthe first fluid discharge port via the first fluid tank.
 10. The coolingsystem as claimed in claim 1, wherein the chassis further comprises asecond fluid injection port and a second fluid discharge port which areboth connected the second fluid tank, the second fluid enters the secondfluid tank via the second fluid injection port and is discharged fromthe second fluid tank via the second fluid discharge port.